“LIRR’s command upgrade will make ‘rail’ difference” , Newsday, August 29, 2010 
How ’bout this for Command No. 1 at the LIRR’s new state-of-the-art Command and Control Center?
Don’t. Catch. Fire.
Unplanned conflagrations like the one that knocked out a 1913 switching room at Jamaica station can be truly catastrophic. Nearly a week after Monday’s cable fire, train service [...]

“Jobs are coming back ” Ellis Henican Column, Newsday, August 23, 2010 
It’s the perfect good-news/bad-news story for today’s recessionary times.
The jobs are coming back to Long Island – just not the paychecks.
For the fourth straight month, private-sector employment is up on Long Island from twelve months earlier – 8,600 new jobs this time. But nice as [...]

“Sacred Ground: Who Decides?”  Ellis Henican Column, amNewYork, August 20, 2010 
One day – not too soon, I hope – I will die.
And when that tragic moment arrives, those who love me will be saddened. Then a nice person in rubber gloves will come along and squirt 409 spray on my desk. An hour later, some [...]

“Henican: Holding pattern on E. Hampton copter flight plans” Ellis Henican Column, Newsday, August 7, 2010 
It’s as key to Hamptons-weekend extravagance as Diva vodka martinis and Lamborghini golf carts: The Friday-afternoon helicopter ride east.
Wasting half the cocktail hour in LIE backups? Getting stuck on Route 27 behind a pokey landscaper’s truck? Only a schlub would suffer [...]

“Mike’s Gutsy Defense of Mosque”  Ellis Henican Column, amNewYork, August 6, 2010 
The predictable bashing has begun. Mike Bloomberg, defender of religious freedom, is getting plenty of grief for his principled support of what is incorrectly known as the “Ground Zero mosque.”
Sarah Palin, Newt Gingrich, the Wall Street Journal editorial board – their throaty outrage hasn’t [...]

“Steve Levy gives up the ghost” Ellis Henican Column, Newsday, August 1, 2010 
Steve Levy is lucky he has such high self-esteem.
Otherwise, he’d be feeling pretty bummed this weekend. Nothing is turning out like the Suffolk County executive planned.
State Republican leaders were certain to pick him as their inside candidate for governor. Only they didn’t.
Then, he was [...]